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WASHINGTON — The U.S. government yesterday for the first time released data on the scope of some
of its most sensitive foreign intelligence-gathering efforts, saying that it had targeted nearly
90,000 foreign people or organizations for surveillance through U.S. companies last year.

The release of the “transparency report,” issued by the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence, follows an order a year ago from President Barack Obama to declassify and make public
as much information as possible about certain sensitive surveillance programs.

Some privacy advocates said the figure was not as high as they had expected, but that the report
left out important data. It did not include figures on the number of U.S. persons whose phone calls
or emails were collected accidentally or because they were in contact with foreign targets.

“The intelligence community is hiding the extent to which this surveillance conducted without a
warrant is impacting people in the United States, who have constitutional rights,” said Gregory
Nojeim, senior counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Obama’s directive came on the heels of disclosures by former National Security Agency contractor
Edward Snowden, who leaked documents about U.S. surveillance programs out of a concern that their
scope had exceeded the bounds of what was lawful and proper.

Section 702 of the 2008 FISA Amendments Act permits the NSA to intercept without individualized
warrants the communications of foreigners thought to be located overseas for foreign-intelligence
purposes.

Michael Sussmann, a former federal prosecutor who represents tech companies in national-security
matters, said the disclosure of the number of foreign targets counters the notion that the Section
702 program amounts to widespread, indiscriminate collection.

“For those people who say it’s dragnet surveillance — it’s not,” Sussmann said. “These aren’t
small numbers, but considering that several billion people use U.S. email services, this shows a
targeted use of 702 authorities.”

Civil-liberties groups have decried 702 collection as “dragnet” surveillance and sought to
challenge its constitutionality. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Portland, Ore., ruled that the
program is constitutional — the first court opinion on the issue.

The government says it has rules to protect the privacy of Americans whose communications are
picked up accidentally or because they are in contact with foreign targets.

The report, which will be issued annually, does not include data on a program under which the
NSA gathers all call detail records from U.S. phone companies for counterterrorism purposes.